Open Questions: Glossary of Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
- Angular momentum
- Axion
- Baryon
- Bose condensation
- Boson
- A particle whose
spin
quantum number is an integer. Bosons are usually associated with
forces in a
Yang-Mills field theory.
- Charge conjugation symmetry
- Chargino
- Chirality
- A property of "handedness" which may be possessed by physical
entities in which
parity
(mirror image) symmetry is nor perfectly observed.
For instance, the
weak force
is said to be chiral
because it has different effects on instances of the same particle
having opposite
spin.
- Effective theory
- Electroweak theory
- Fermion
- A particle whose
spin
quantum number is half of an (odd) integer. Matter particles
are fermions, and they obey the
Pauli exclusion principle.
- Feynman diagram
- Field
- A mathematical construct in which a mathematical entity, such as
a number or a vector, is associated with each point in space. A
field is often used to represent a force, such as electromagnetic
or gravitational force, but fields can also be associated with
particles.
- Gauge field
- A type of
field
which arises as a result of a requirement for preserving local
gauge symmetry
in a
Yang-Mills field theory.
- Gauge symmetry
- A type of
symmetry operation
which can be applied "locally" at any point in space.
- Gluon
- Goldstone boson
- Gravitino
- Graviton
- Hadron
- Helicity
- Hierarchy problem
- Higgs field
- A field (or more likely, a number of fields)
postulated to account for
spontaneous symmetry breaking
in the
standard model.
Particles in the standard model acquire mass from interaction with a
Higgs field.
- Higgs boson
- A hypothetical (and much sought after) particle, with
spin
0, that corresponds to a
Higgs field.
- Lepton
- Lie algebra
- Lie superalgebra
- Lorentz transformation
- Meson
- Neutralino
- Neutrino
- Neutron
- Noether's theorem
- Parity
- Pauli exclusion principle
- Perturbation theory
- Planck's constant
- Planck energy
- Planck length
- Planck mass
- Planck time
- Poincaré group
- Preon
- Quantum chromodynamics
- Quantum electrodynamics
- Quantum field theory
- Quark
- Renormalization
- Rishon
- Spin
- A quantum mechanical property of particles (and fields) which is
roughly analogous to
angular momentum
in classical mechanics.
- Spontaneous symmetry breaking
- Standard model
- Strong force
- Supergravity
- Supersymmetry
- A postulated (but unverified) symmetry of nature in which
there is a
fermion
which corresponds to every
boson,
and vice versa.
- Symmetry operation
- A transformation that can be applied to a physical system,
or an equation describing a physical system, that leaves the
system or equation unchanged. Geometrical operations such as
translation and rotation are examples.
- Technicolor force
- Vacuum energy
- Vacuum polarization
- Weak force
- Yang-Mills field theory
- A specific type of
quantum field theory
in which the field arises out of a requirement to allow the
application of a local
symmetry operation
at every point in space.
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Copyright © 2002 by Charles Daney, All Rights Reserved